Victory for the SLS AMG GT3 in Barcelona 24-hour race

Montmeló/Affalterbach – Today, Swiss AMG customer team, Hofor Racing, won the Barcelona 24-hour race. The SLS AMG GT3 with drivers Michael Kroll, Roland Eggimann (both SUI), Kenneth Heyer (GER) and Christiaan Frankenhout (NED) finished the endurance race with an advantage of ten laps over the second-placed team. With this victory in the Barcelona 24-hour race, the SLS AMG GT3 has managed to win four consecutive endurance racing classics in a row in 2013: Dubai/United Arab Emirates (January), Nürburgring/Germany (May) and Spa-Francorchamps/Belgium (July). Two of the three SLS AMG GT3 that had taken the start also made it to the finish in the Barcelona 24 Hours.

In only its second competitive outing with the racing gullwing, Hofor Racing claimed both the overall win and a class victory. The SLS AMG GT3 of the Swiss customer team started the race from sixth place on the grid and had to carry out a tyre change due to the weather soon after the start of the race. Further in the race, the team quickly moved up through the ranks with consistently fast lap times and soon established itself among the front-runners.

The racing gullwing of De Lorenzi Racing with Gianluca de Lorenzi (ITA), Robert Nearn (GBR), Ivo Breukers and Bert de Heus (both NED) finished 16th overall and second in class A6. The Italian AMG customer team had started the race from second place on the grid, was among the front runners right away and also took a turn in the lead. Transmission problems forced the team to make two repair stops. German AMG customer team Car Collection with drivers Peter Schmidt, Alexander Mattschull, Heinz Schmersal, Gustav Edelhoff and Johannes Kirchhoff (all GER) started from fourth place, but failed to make it to the finish. During the race, the SLS AMG GT3 was running second, but an accident just before midnight forced it to retire.

Michael Kroll, Team principal and driver, Hofor Racing: “This is simply unbelievable! Nobody in the team had even dared to dream about being on the top step of the podium here. After all, this was only our second race with the SLS AMG GT3. At the beginning of the weekend, we had problems with the car and were unable to take part in night practice as a result, but eventually, the gullwing’s high level of reliability has also helped us to claim the overall win with an advantage of ten laps. Many thanks to all the team members who have been working really hard to achieve this success.”

Uli Fritz, head of AMG Customer Sport: “The fourth participation in a 24-hour race this year also marks the fourth consecutive overall win for the SLS AMG GT3. This range of success with over 100 race wins since the start of our customer sport programme in 2010 is quite impressive. Congratulations to the AMG customer team, Hofor Racing.”